A Touch of Fear
by skittlezlvr19
Summary: When a sudden storm destroys their research vessel, two young and inexperienced ladies find themselves stranded on a mysterious and remote island hidden off the shores of Japan. With only their determination, inner strength, and resourcefulness to help them, they must overcome the challenges of a harsh and unforgiving journey. But what else will they have to face besides survival?
1. Chapter 1

**AN:/ I do not own Tomb Raider.**

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I've always known I was different.

My long straight brown hair and brown eyes resemble nothing of my parents. Whenever I would ask, they would dismiss it as 'your great grandfather had brown hair and brown eyes', but when I asked my grandmother, she told me that he didn't.

Crushed and confused, I realized long ago that I was adopted, and that I've never met my real parents. For years, I would hide in the closed space of my bedroom, studying anything I could get my hands on to get my mind off of the things that compressed me with such sadness. And it just happened to be archaeology.

Ever since I read my first National Geographical, I've been obsessed with East Asian history and culture, and by the time I was sixteen years old, I had mastered Japanese without my parents knowing.

The reason I've kept up my desire to become an archaeologist is because of my father's long old friend, Conrad Roth, along with Lara Croft, who is also interested in archaeology. All three of us would always go rock climbing, navigating, and many other survival missions, which I suppose is unusual for two young girls. But I've always yearned for adventure, and Roth and Lara did as well.

From Roth I found out , after serving two combat tours with the RMC, (Royal Marine Commandos) he left the military and put his specialized skills to use as wreck-diver and freelance treasure-hunter. Roth traveled the world, earning a reputation for toughness, competence, and a willingness to bend inconvenient laws restricting traffic in historical artifacts. Those qualities attracted the attention of wealthy private collectors, including Lara's parents, who mysteriously disappeared years ago, and Roth is now more of Lara's father than her mentor.

He is a mentor to me as well, and has always encouraged our abilities as an explorer and to trust our instincts. When Lara was eighteen and I was sixteen, she graduated from high school and went to a community college in London instead of Cambridge University, refusing to touch her fortune that her parents had left her.

Since then, I haven't seen Lara or Roth for three years.

Now, at nineteen, my desire for adventure is even more fired up, and I dream of reaching down into the dirt and picking up an arrowhead that hasn't been held in 800 years or more.

Recently I've been reading about the foreboding Japanese kingdom of Yamatai, home to the legendary shaman queen Himiko, dubbed the "Sun Queen", and said to hold mystical power. Generations of Japanese historians, linguists, and archeologists have debated where Yamatai is located, mostly likely near the Dragon's Triangle, due west.

But I believe that Yamatai is somewhere _in_ the triangle itself, due east. And I've gotten the chance to find out, for I'm boarding the Endurance on my first expedition to find Yamatai. And I get to see Lara and Roth again, for they are going as well.

Roth had sent me a letter months ago, telling me that he and Lara and couple of other young archaeologists were going as well. He also told me the time and date, and that he missed me. I was a little nervous after that letter, but I shook it off, reminding myself that this was my big chance to go on an adventure.

I walk towards the dock with my rolling suitcase in one hand and my book bag on my shoulder. Squinting, I see three men standing near the edge of the dock near the Endurance. Two of them have black hair, with lanky bodies and pale complexions. They seem to be arguing, one of the men throwing their arms up in the air dramatically. The other man has thinning gray hair, with a good build to him.

Recognizing immediately who it was, I wait until the other men leave with a huff, and I run full sprint, launching myself into Roth's arms. My sudden jump nearly sent him reeling back, but my arms around his neck kept him steady. After a few seconds, he chuckled and wrapped his strong arms around me.

He pulls back and looks me up and down, grinning as he did so.

"You've grown, girl."

I smile and nod, sighing. "It's been three years, Roth. I've missed you." I respond, and his tosses his arm over my shoulder and squeezing it, turning us to look at the huge beautiful ship.

"I've missed you, too. Now enough of reunions. Let's get you inside so you can meet the rest of the crew."

Nodding breathlessly, I follow him up the ramp, admiring the freshly painted walls and the sound of my black boots clicking against the floor. He leads me down the hall, towards a thick door, and opens it for me. Suddenly, a bright flashing light beams down the hall, and Roth immediately becomes alert.

"It looks like you'll have to wait until dinner to meet the rest of them. You stay here and get situated. I'll be around!" He tells me, and I nod with a smile as he rushed down the hall, yelling at a few other members that had wandered into the hall.

I turn and open my door, and it swings open with ease. Setting my suitcase down outside, I step inside, staring at the bed in the corner of the room, a metal desk, and a metal locker. The room sort of looks like a ship version of dorm room. After unpacking my clothes and necessities, I wander around the unimaginably huge ship, staring in amazement at everything so huge and shiny.

After turning yet another corner, I see that another door is open, for light is shining from the room, lighting up the hall. I tiptoe quietly towards the door, trying to quiet the clicking of my black boots, and press up against the side of the door. I hear rummaging inside, and a frustrated sigh.

"Where did I put it? I just had it here a second ago..." I hear the very familiar voice say, and I peek around the corner to see a dark figure digging through piles of a box, looking through drawers and cabinets. Once glance of her profile from a mirror she got hanging on her locker, I walk completely into the room.

She stops what she's doing and turns to look at me. Her brown hair is up in a ponytail, and her brown eyes spark with recognition as she looks over me. Her small heart shaped face is tan and smooth, and she smiles, showing all of her perfect white teeth, and she tackles me into a hug.

"Claire! How are you? What have you been up to? Are you still studying?" She asks me in rush, and I smile as I tighten my arms around her small frame, forgetting how nice our friendship was before. She releases me, her brown eyes, so much like mine, full of excitement.

"I've been well, Lara, really well. I've been in school up until now, working towards my Bachelor's Degree for History and Geography."

"That's great! I'm glad you get to go on this expedition with us; I know how much you like adventure." She smirks, and I chuckle at her. Suddenly footsteps echo from the hall, and a young Asian woman walks into the room. Her silky black hair is cut short up to right below her chin, and she wears a brown leather jacket with a pretty V-neck shirt underneath with golden lettering. She wears white pants, along with black ankle high boots. In her hand she holds a video camera.

"Hi! I'm Sam Nishimura, Documentary Filmmaker, producer, and translator for the Endurance. It's so nice to meet you!" She says excitedly, not lowering the video camera from my face. She sticks out her hand, which I shake slowly, but firmly.

"I'm Claire. It's nice to meet you too, Sam." I try respond confidently, but my voice shakes a little, but she doesn't notice and nods. She looks around the room disapprovingly, shaking her head.

"Lara, this room is a mess! Just a few minutes ago I had it clean and organized." She complained, and Lara just shrugged, continuing her prolonged search. She pulls out a torn leather back book, a few pictures and extra pages jutting from the cover. She opens it and sits down at her desk, and my heart speeds up as I recognize the markings and pictures of Himiko and Yamatai, markings and pictures I'd studied so much.

I walk towards her and peek over her shoulder, interested in her notes. Like me, she believed Yamatai was East, not West, somewhere in triangle itself.

"You think Yamatai is that far East?" I ask incredulously, and she leans back in her chair with a sigh.

"I'm onto something, I'm sure of it. I'm just sure if the others will listen," She mumbles, pulling at the strap of her gray camisole. "Or, even if they should."

"Lara, you know this stuff better than anyone! Seriously, I'm just not saying that to make you feel better. I trust you, Roth trusts you. You got this! Right, Claire?" Sam interrupts Lara's ogling, and I nod quickly.

"Absolutely, Lara. In fact, I think the exact same thing about Yamatai. I'm sure with the both of us, the others will listen."

Lara looks at me with small smile, and Sam grabs both of our hands. "Let's tell them now! Oh my gosh, you two have so much in common!" she muses as we are tugged down the shiny hall. I look over at Lara, who I never noticed before, does sort of look like me. She has the same shade of brown hair and eyes, and her features are slightly longer than mine.

It was good to know that even after all these years, Lara still looks the same.

After Sam dragged Lara and I towards the main room, I met the rest of the crew, including Reyes, Jonah, Alex, Grim, and Whitman. They were all friendly and nice, except Whitman, who acted as if he were superior to everyone in the room. I felt immediately aggravated by him.

After settling down at the table with one of Lara's books about Yamatai between Reyes and Alex, she and Whitman began to argue.

"How can you suggest that I'm not serious about this expedition, Lara? It's not just Sam's family funding us, I've put my savings on the line too."

"We've all got some kind of stake in this," Reyes murmured, focused on the object in her gloved hands."The funding won't last forever, Whitman."

"That's precisely why we should push east, not west." Lara objected, and Whitman opened his mouth to argue, but what cut off by Grim and Roth's exclamations as Grim's team score a goal.

"...no one believes Yamatai is that far east. The books simply don't support it!"

"Well, whoever wrote those books never found Yamatai," Sam offered in Lara's defense, and Whitman glared at her briefly before bringing the conversation back on himself.

"I've talked to Roth about this! There's no point in following in other people's footsteps, Dr. Whitman." Lara said, showing a map of Japan near the Dragon's Triangle.

Whitman shook his head, refusing to listen. "I refuse to bet my reputation on your hunch! I'm the lead archaeologist here."

"An' when were you last in the field with a TV crew behind you?" Grim asked in his Scottish accent as he looked in the huge pot on the stove. Whitman turned to glare at him in disgust.

"I've got 30 years' experience, 2 PhDs, one in East Asian history. So why don't you just stick to boats, Mr. Grim?" Whitman replied cynically.

"Ship, Dr. Whitman. It's a ship," Grim said as he helped Jonah spoon out bowls of soup. "Don't need a PhD to know that."

Whitman sighed, frustrated. "Look. Going east will take us directly into the Dragon's Triangle. That's where we need to go!" Lara insisted once again, but still Whitman refused to listen. Jonah came and set down the bowls of soup on the table. It smelled delicious, and I eagerly began to shovel the tasty liquid between my lips.

"Lara, my Little Bird...I'd follow you almost anywhere, but that place has a bad energy."

"Bad storms more like. Makes the Bermuda Triangle look like Disney World...sign me up." Alex laughed, typing away from behind his laptop.

"The stories about Queen Himiko say she could summon storms. Myths are usually based on some version of the truth! What if Yamatai was somewhere in the Triangle itself?"

"Look, this is the satellite imagery from inside the triangle," Alex offered, turning his laptop around to show us a map of Japan decorated with patches of red, yellow, and green.

"That doesn't look good," Sam admitted sadly.

"If it's wet, I can sail on it." Grim mused as he took a sip of his soup. Whitman turned to stare at him incredulously.

"You can't be serious! It's-!"

"Enough! Reyes is right, we don't have the funds to piss about. It's now or never. Lara's offering fresh ideas and a plan. I'm the captain here, it's my decision. We're going into the Dragon's Triangle!" Roth interrupted, interfering between Whitman and Lara. Shaking his head, Whitman snatched up his bowl up of soup.

"Why am I even here?" He retorted before stalking away. Roth took his place, asking Lara to show him her plan again. I had already finished my bowl of soup, so I wandered over and told Roth that I agreed with Lara. We told him of our shared opinions and notes, and he nodded seriously as we described it to him. It wasn't long before we set east for the Dragon's Triangle.

With everyone finished with dinner and headed for their rooms, I walked sleepily down the large hall, my black boots clicking against the marble floor. Collapsing on the bed, I was just too tired to untie my boots and switch from my beige cargo pants and black camisole into my usual pj's. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

I didn't sleep long however, for a loud siren blasted through my ears, bolting me awake. At the same time, the ship turned left roughly, causing me to fall from my bed and crash onto the hard cold floor, hurting my shoulder.

Stumbling from my room and holding my throbbing shoulder, my eyes widen as I see that the entire hall is flooded with sea water. It smells strongly of salt, and I gag as I try to run as fast as I can through the water towards the emergency exit.

After kicking the door off its hinges when it wouldn't open the first time, I head up the stairs. The rain and wind stung and my hair whipped about my face almost painfully. Trying to walk straight, I walk onwards toward the empty dock, squinting, trying to see, trying to find someone, anyone. Where was Roth?

The ship jerks to the right sharply, and I slip and land on my shoulder again, the pain almost unbearable. The combination of salt and rain water is making my eyes burn, and I desperately try to stand upright as the storm rages on.

From the strong wind I can make out a familiar voice calling my name, and I look to see Roth walking towards me, holding onto the side of the ship for balance.

Once he gets to me, he can't tell that I'm crying because of the rain, and he tries gently helps me stand, but the ship is moving so much it takes a couple times for me to stand. I gasp from the sharp pain in my shoulder, more tears falling, and he lays me down beside a red pole to hold onto.

I look across and see that the entire ship is completely split in half. Roth is shouting, and in slow motion I see Lara running towards us on the other half of the ship, crashing into walls and trying to stay upright.

She launches herself from the ledge and reaches for Roth's hand as he holds onto the same pole I'm hugging; And at the last second he grabs her hand. But even through my haze, I can see him struggling to hold her weight, and he yells her name as her fingers slip from his grasp and she falls into the deep water below.

"Roth...where is Lara?" I manage to choke out, but the storm is too loud, and it drowns out my voice. Using the pole to stand up, I half walk half crawl to where Roth is leaning over the ship, looking desperately at the angry waves that every so often spray sea water up into his face.

I bend down next to him to help, but the ship is rocked so hard it nearly falls over. With barely enough energy to scream, my black boots slip from underneath me, and I nearly fall over the edge.

Roth holds onto my shoulder with one hand, while hanging onto the red pole with the other, but he's squeezing my injured shoulder , trying to pull me up.

The pain that erupted from my body was so severe that it ran from my shoulder, through my chest and up my throat. My eyes slowly closed, and the last thing I hear is Roth calling my name, almost inaudible, and everything becomes numb.


	2. Chapter 2

**A:N/ I still do not own Tomb Raider.**

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A throbbing pain in my shoulder wakes me. I open my eyes to a very dark and cloudy sky. It smells of burning wood, and the ground below me was hard, like pavement. I don't recognize where I am. I turn my head, which is covered in dirt, confused of why my arms are stuck as I try to move them. How long have I been out?

At first I don't realize that I am not alone.

Maybe a dozen of other people were on their knees around me, heads bowed. Their arms are behind their backs. Sitting up onto my knees, I realize that my wrists are tied together. I attempt to wrestle free, but a young man beside me shakes his head. His blue eyes are scared and hard.

"Do not try to escape. For they will kill us all."

My eyes widen in fear, and my heart skips a beat. "W-what?" I stutter, but he turns away from me, refusing to answer any of my questions.

Scared now, I look around, wondering how I had gotten here. I can hear the crashing of the waves, but they are too far away. The trees around us are too dark, and I can't see past them. The wolves howls can be heard echoing through the trees, and the moon separates from the clouds, illuminating my surroundings. I realized we are in a thick, scary forest.

Suddenly, three men come striding toward us, dressed in ragged clothes. Two of them hold bows and arrows, and the last one has jet black hair with scars decorating his face. In his hand he holds a pistol.

I can't take my eyes off the gun, and he notices and walks over to me. He bends down, looking into my eyes. I shiver. His are dark brown and look somewhat crazed. Grinning seductively, he lifts me up by the arm, tossing me to one of the other men.

"Продолжить с поиском других выживших после кораблекрушения. Но убедитесь, что вы не позволяете что один побег." He speaks in a language I cannot understand. It sort of sounds like Russian maybe?

More of the men come from the shadows, wielding guns and bows, and I dragged away from the rest of the group. I scream, trying to wrestle free. The man who had whispered to me earlier tries to stand and get to me.

"Claire! You leave her alone!" He shouts, but the man with the many scars shoots him point blank in the face. His falls to the ground in a mess of muscle and blood.

Still screaming from witnessing a brutal murder, the man turns the gun on me, jabbing it underneath my jaw.

"Silence, girl." He seethes through his teeth, and I bite my tongue. I'm dragged towards a group of trees, and then tossed down to the dirt. The man points his gun at me.

"You try to escape, and I won't think to pull the trigger. " He warns, and I nod, trying to be brave. He smirks, turning away from me. A burst of adrenaline spikes my bloodstream, and I silently sneak towards him, and kick his feet out from under him. He hits the ground with a angry yell, and I get up and try to flee away from him.

Just when I think I'm home free, a pain pierces through my leg. I cry out in pain and fall flat on my face. I turn over to see blood trickling from a tear in my pants above my knee. It stings, and my hands are still tied together. Inspecting it closely, I breathe a sigh a relief as I realize the bullet only grazed my leg.

Strong hands seize me from my neck, and I jerked roughly from the ground. A fist connects with my cheek, and I look up to see the man pulling the gun from his pocket.

He holds it to my temple, and before he can pull the trigger, a voice shouts at him to stop. Turning around, the man with the many scars comes walking up.

"Vladimir...she tried to escape, I was only trying to-"

Vladimir snatches the gun from his hand shoots him in the back of the head. He then takes me away, up a flight of stone stairs, and then many buildings come into view. They look to be centuries of years old, classical Japanese. Some of them are covered with trees that had grown into them over the years. There are many miniature waterfalls nearby, and smoke from the burning buildings is burning my eyes.

Limping up the stairs, I'm dragged to be with a new group of four. All of them are men, and they watch as I'm put with the rest of them on my knees. I feel the blood trickling from a cut below my eye down my cheek. My leg burns, and I wince the longer I'm forced to kneel on the hard ground.

Another man strides forward, and this time he has a much larger bow on his back. In his hands his holds an assault rifle. Going down the line, he shoots and kills each and every person. I'm hyperventilating by the time he gets to me, but he stops and turns to look as footsteps approach, shining his flashlight in that direction.

I peek around him and Vladimir dragging a woman, who is struggling ruthlessly. I realize it is Lara, who is covered in dirt and blood.

"Who are you people? What do you want with us?" she demands, but her voice is drowned out by Vladimir's words.

"Silence!" He shouts at her. "If they give you any trouble, shoot them." He commands the others.

"Don't hurt them please!" Lara pleads, but he turns on her and pushes her up against a tree. His hands snake over her body, and she squirms.

"I said, silence girl," He purrs into he ear. He then mutters some more words in Russian I cannot understand. The man beside me stands.

"Lara!" He yells, but is shot and killed by Vladimir. I scream, and more people shove their way past me running away from the scene. Scared out of my mind, I try to follow them, but a hand grabs my injured shoulder and yanks me back.

"Oh no! No!" Lara cries, but Vladimir knocks her down, pointing a gun at her. She lands with a huff next to me. Vladimir stares at both of us.

"Don't you fucking move," He threatens, and he turns to join the rest of the men to hunt down the other survivors. Immediately getting up onto our feet and crouching down beside a wall, Lara turns to me breathlessly.

"Oh, Claire, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," she whispers, her brown eyes sad. "I can't believe-"

I cut her off. "Don't worry about that now. We have to get out of here! Have you seen Roth?"

She shook her head. "The entire group is meeting at his location, near a Mountain Village I believe. But you're right. Let's get the hell out of here."

We snuck past the men with flashlights and weapons, many of them whispering about some man named Mathias.

"This group's got some fight. Gonna have to kill most of them."

"Too bad. We could have used some new recruits."

Then, from right above the wall we were hiding behind.

"Hey! The girls are missing! Keep an eye out!"

"Alright!"

After running up a set of stone stairs, we run inside a tiny shed. More men speak to themselves.

"What do you see?"

"Uhh...nothing."

"The women are around here somewhere! Check those ruins!"

We both hold our breath as Vladimir walks by, speaking more Russian to a couple of then walks back toward us, slowly, realizing our hiding spot."No one escapes...Out!" He shouts at us, pointing guns in our faces. We step out and stand against a wall. He looks at both of us, grinning.

"I always find them..."he mutters as he strokes my arm, and I grit my teeth. He pockets one of his guns, the other still pointed at Lara. Seeing a chance, I knee him the groin, and he doubles over. Lara and I turn away from him, but he yanks Lara back pressing her up against the wall and sniffing her.

"You two look so much alike...you both remind me of my sister..." He murmurs. When his head nears her neck, she bites his ear off, the blood spurting in her mouth. He screams and stumbles back, pulling out his guns.

My leg shoots out, and the guns fly from his hands. I push into him and we fall back. I pull out of my restraints and run back for his guns, but he jumps on top of me, trying to wrestle the gun from me.

But then a loud bang rips through my ears, and blood splashes onto my face as he collapses on top of me, gagging on his own blood. I push him off and sit up, scrambling onto my feet and backing away. Lara holds the gun in her hands, her face terrified.

She drops the gun and sinks onto her knees, wrapping her arms around herself. I hear her crying, and I kneel beside her, holding her shoulders. I look into her eyes, my own eyes tearing up.

"We have to keep moving Lara. We have to get to Roth." I reminded her, my voice shaky. Her head remains down. "Oh god..." she chokes out. I look around quickly, noticing the fires becoming larger and spreading quickly. The voices are getting closer, and more gunshots ring out. I grab the guns on the ground and pick up the wooden bow that was near our feet, placing it in Lara's lap. She holds it in her hands tightly, and she nods.

Moving swiftly and quietly through the mountain temple, Lara holds the dual pistols in a makeshift holster, while I hold the wooden bow with makeshift arrows. After climbing yet another set of stairs, a man in blue holds in hands up in defense as a gun is pointed at him. He falls over dead from the bullet going through his chest.

Lara and I walk slowly, trying to be quiet, but then a flaming arrow shoots through the air and grazes Lara on her shoulder. She cries out in pain, and we duck down quickly.

"Got two more!" A voice said. It sounded like another one of the men.

"Are they dead?"

"I don't know. I think they went down over there."

"Outsiders! We know you're here! There's nowhere to run!"

Lara's hand covers the scrape, but it's already swelling. Seeing bullets scattered around, Lara loads them into her dual pistols.

"We have to kill them to get past them. Just follow me, okay?" Lara informs me, and I nod, swallowing hard. She counts to three, and we stand up from our hiding spot.

While Lara fires the dual pistols, I pull a arrow from my back and draw it back, firing it straight into the other man's face.

"Oh shit!" One of them says, trying to duck for cover, but Lara's well aimed shot strikes him in the chest.

"Stay away from us!" I shout as I fire another arrow.

Pretty soon all of the men are dead, and Lara and I search their bodies for supplies. Gathering a couple of bullets, we break down the door in front of us, only to have more men come and fire at us.

We close the door quickly, but the building becomes engulfed in flames.

"You're gonna die in there!" the men shouted proudly.

"Kill them! Burn them out!"

I coughed as the smoke filled my lungs. Kicking out an opening in the back of the building, we make it outside breathlessly.

After jumping a few gaps and bridges, we see a man standing over the edge with a bow in hand, looking for survivors.

"There's no one up here!" He shouts, and another shout is heard in reply.

Ducking down behind a wheelbarrow, I hold the bow out in front of me, an arrow drawn back as far as it could go. With one well aimed shot, the arrow killed the man and he tumbled down below.

We jumped up onto the ledge and made our way around, climbing wooden ladders that were at least 100 feet from the ground, but eventually we made it to higher ground.

Once we climbed up behind a box, because there were even more men around, my hands were stinging. Wiping them on my ripped and dirty pants, Lara shot an arrow on the wall beside them, distracting one of them to inspect it.

Once he walked far enough away, I shot the other man, and this time I didn't miss. He slumped to the ground, and the other man was oblivious to my footsteps as I whacked him upside the head with an arrow.

"We make a pretty good team." Lara panted, and I swung the bow onto my back, out of breath. Suddenly a rope ladder cascaded down, followed by a man.

"Hey, what's going on down there? Everything okay?"

His screams cut off as he hit the ground after Lara shot an arrow into his back. We climbed the rope ladder, and the radio on Lara's belt sounded with Roth's voice.

"Lara! You there?"

"Yes!" She answered.

"I can see smoke coming from the old ruins. Are you okay?"

"Oh, Roth, we're in trouble. They're killing people."

"What? Who?"

"Men. I don't know why, we had to kill some of them, we had no choice."

"That can't have been easy."

"It's scary just how easy it was. You've got to warn the others, Roth."

"Don't worry about them right now," He replied. "You just do whatever it takes to get to me, Lara."

Once we stand from climbing the ladder, there are more classical Japanese buildings, more ledges, and more men. I groaned, sitting down beside a campfire. Lara sat beside me, warming her hands.

"How is that arm doing?" I ask, and she shrugs, making circles in the dirt with the toe of her boot.

"Fine I guess. But you're the one with more cuts than me. How are _you_ doing?"

I check over my leg, and the burned skin is a little pink. The cut on my face has hardened with blood. My shoulder doesn't ache so much anymore. "I'm fine, too."

Lara is quiet. Then she breaks the silence as the fire licks the firewood. "This is all my fault we're all here. Now everyone is separated and Sam was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" I ask, more alert.

She nodded. "She was with a man, Mathias, and I passed out. When I woke up they were both gone. So Reyes, Jonah, Alex, and Grim went to look for her, and Whitman came with me to head for Roth and look for you. We were surrounded by those men, but we had a gun. But they tackled me down and tied my hands together and took me away. Whitman just told me to go along."

I shook my head. "I don't trust him. There's something about him...that makes me feel he would betray us to keep up his reputation."

Lara tossed a twig into the fire. "You're probably right."

Voices sounded above us, and we both rose up quickly, walking quietly through the temple, climbing ledges and crossing planks. After killing two more men who also spoke of a man named Mathias, we climbed inside a collapsing building. The men tried to follow us.

"Find them!"

"Kill or capture?"

"Kill them! They're too much trouble!"

"What do we do?" I asked as we thought of a plan. Barrels and boxes were stacked underneath a lantern that flamed with fire. Lara pointed at it, raising her eyebrows. I shot an arrow at it, and it broke, spraying flames over the barrels and boxes. It cleared the way, and we sneaked through the opening, only to find men everywhere. One was right in front of us, the others scattered around.

'You get that one, I get this one' Lara mouthed to me, and I nodded. I watched as she swung her own bow she had fashioned from long sticks and cloth around his neck, choking him and then breaking his neck. I sneaked over to mine and did the same. The men above us talked to one another, shining their flashlights.

"Hey, watch it..."

"Whoa...how far does it go?"

"All the way to the sea caves."

"Damn. Maybe they fell?"

"No, I don't think so."

Lara sneaked behind a couple of barrels, and jumped up onto a ledge quietly. She shot an arrow at the man closest to her, and I shot one the farthest away. However, I jerked at the last second, and I missed. The arrow struck the wall beside him, and he shined the flashlight at me.

"Need some help!" He shouted, and many other men appeared with big guns and bows.

"Shit!" I squealed as I ducked back behind the barrels, shots being fired at me. I fired as many arrows as I could at a time, but Lara helped a lot. Pretty soon we were speeding down a rope tied to a overhang below the building.

Coming across a wall with a split down the middle, Lara tucked herself inside and began to climb up. I unwillingly followed her, rocks every so often scattering around us.

We climbed up from the rocks, and then we followed a dark hallway. I stopped running when we heard gunshots. Slowly I came to stand behind Lara, who was peeking around the corner.

"Back! Get back! Go on!" The voice shouted as more gunshots fired. The barking of wolves sounded with it.

"Roth?" Lara cried, and we ran for him as he shot the last wolf dead, and he sat down with a huff of pain. "We're coming!"

Lara and I sat on either side of him, and we inspected his leg.

"Thank God you're alive," Lara panted. Roth shook his head.

"God's got nothing to do with it." He winced at Lara's hands over his leg.

It was torn and pieces of skin hung loosely. It looked very painful, and Lara tied it up while I inspected Roth's face for anymore damage. He smiled at me through the pain.

"It's good to see you both."

"Sorry, they did a real number on you leg," I said as Lara tied the knot, and he winced. He then tried to stand, and Lara and I jumped up.

"Wait! What are you doing?" I asked him as he struggled onto his feet.

"The wolves took my food pack. The transmitter from the lifeboat's in it. If we don't get that back, we're not getting off this bloody island."

"You need bandages, morphine, antiseptic..."

"Also in the pack."

"Shit..." Lara sighed.

"Exactly," Roth agreed, and he held out his arms. "C'mere..." He said, and we walked for a couple steps, Lara and I supporting him, before Roth's eyes closed and he fell back.

"No! Don't do this to me, you Northern bastard.." Lara muttered. Suddenly a wolf howled into the sky, and we turned to see him walk back into his cave. Lara turned to me.

"You make sure Roth is okay. I'll get the pack."

"Are you sure Lara?" I asked, afraid for her. She nodded, and stood up, already walking away. "I'll be fine." She assured me.

Sighing, I dragged Roth over to a campfire, and laid him down. Checking his heart, I sat beside him and waited for Lara to come back.

* * *

**A:N/ If I have the order wrong from which the events happen in the game, please tell me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A:N/ I do not own Tomb Raider.**

* * *

Resting my chin upon my arms that were wrapped around my knees, I shivered and scooted closer to the fire I had built. Looking over at Roth, I'm relieved to see that his chest rises and falls steadily. Every now and then he mumbles in his sleep.

I bury my face in my knees, closing my eyes. How did it end up this way? Does fate always have to prove me wrong?

"I'm such a baka..." I murmured to myself. I run my fingers through my ponytail, and look towards the mountains near the moon. I can hear wolves howling in the distance, and I bit my lip, thinking of Lara all by herself.

And what was Vladimir talking about when he said we look so much alike? I've heard it before, because almost everyone says we look alike. But even some crazed man who didn't know either of us?

I look over at Roth, whose lips are moving silently, and I scoot closer to him, feeling safe. Thinking back on it, I realized that even Roth commented on it, but I never really listened. I always thought that I was alone, a girl with no real family. I didn't have my mother or my father, and my adoptive parents never actually took the time to get to know the real me.

Just what is Lara to me?

I scoff, and stretch out my legs, leaning back on my hands. I stare up at the dark sky, my eyes searching for stars; the sky is pitch black, and raindrops are starting to fall.

"Claire! Oh, sorry," Lara bursts through the bushes, out of breath, and apologizes as I flinch at her sudden outburst. In her hand she holds a yellow pack, and her stomach is splattered with blood.

"Oh my god, what happened?" I ask in alarm, but she just hops over a few branches and lands on her knees next to Roth.

"It's nothing - let's just get Roth patched up." She begins to pull out gauze, bandages, and a small bottle of alcohol. After pouring half the bottle on Roth's injured leg, I hiss as she pours some on my thigh where the bullet grazed, and the cut on my cheek.

Wrapping Roth's leg as best as she could, she turns and helps wrap around a thin strip of cloth around my thigh, and I help wrap a thin strip around the upper half of her arm.

Closing the box, she sits down beside me next to the fire. She leans against her hand, her elbow on her knees. "This doesn't feel real. It feels like we're in nightmare." I say, my voice low.

"The thing about nightmares," Lara begins." Is sooner or later, you wake up. But there's no waking up from this place. Which means we're really here, we're really doing these things."

I shake my head, tears threatening to fall. "I don't know what's happened to the rest of the crew. I hope they are okay. They have to be. They have to be. I don't know what the hell is going on here, all that matters is that Roth finds a way to get us home."

She nods, her brown eyes fixated on the fire licking the firewood. "Thank god for Roth's training. All those treks, all those climbs... It's as if he was preparing us for something like this all along."

"It's clear that there are people living here. And that they are organized. They're killing and recruiting. But why? It's like some kind of cult. But a cult of what? What do they want? What are they looking for?" I muttered, and Lara looked at me, her brown eyes sad.

"This place is incredible. I've seen wrecks here that could date back centuries. We weren't the first and I know we're not alone. Something isn't right about this place." She replies, and I shift nervously. "What is it?"

Do I dare tell her my thoughts?

"Remember...when Vladimir was attacking us...he said that we looked so much alike, and that we reminded him of his sister."

She stares at me, confused. "So? We get that all the time."

"But what if-?" I begin, but I bite my tongue, and then Roth groans and sits up. "Roth!" Lara says, and gets up to help him lean against the wall. I stayed where I was, my thoughts so confused and disoriented I thought I would faint. Lara sits beside Roth, leaning back. Roth looks over his leg, and grins.

"It's not bad. Where a young lady like you learn to do a thing like that?"

"Late shift at the Nine Bells," Lara laughs. "A wolf's got nothing on a broken bottle."

"Hey," Roth points at the metal device sitting by feet, with an antenna sticking straight up." You got it. Nice work." Roth catches my eye, but I hastily avert mine. Instead, I look back at the crackling fire. The smoke blows into my face, making my eyes burn. I hear Roth sigh.

"So, I assume the plan is to take that to the old radio tower." Lara says, and I look up to see a faintly glowing red light high in the sky. I look back at Roth, who nods, but then looks at his leg sadly.

"That should give us the best shot of broadcasting a strong signal in every direction." He replies, looking up at the dark sky. Lara and I remain quiet.

"Look, Lara. Claire," He says. "We need to send out that SOS. And I'm not climbing anytime soon."

"Yeah I was afraid you were going to say that." Lara replies, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. I put my head back between my knees.

"You can do this, girls. After all, you're Crofts."

I jerk my head up, confused. "That's not my name, Roth. That's Lara's. I'm not a Croft, remember?" I object, and Roth looks at me for a moment, lost in thought, until he breaks away. I immediately grow suspicious.

"That's right, you're not. But you two make a good team, and you're going to need each other to get through this."

"I don't think I'm that kind of Croft, Roth." Lara responds, and Roth reaches over to his left to find something. "Sure you are," He mumbles. He sets a hardened axe like thing in between us. "You just don't know it yet."

Looking at the climbing axe, I turn around and face them. "Let's hope we're fast learners, then." I reach for the axe, but Roth grabs my wrist.

"Just...be careful, you two." Lara and I nod, and we both stand, Lara tucking the transmitter into her back pocket, and I run my fingers over the blades of the axe.

After looking back at Roth, we head towards the mountains, scaling them effortlessly, jumping on top of roofs and underneath wooden houses. However, once we reach the top of the third or fourth wall, we hear voices over the sound of the wind and rain. Crouching underneath a wooden box, Lara and I listen to the men converse.

A large waterfall looms before us, big and mighty, and two more houses on the sides of us. One man stands alone in a shack, while two more stand in the broken down two story house. The waterfall trails around the houses, breaking into another waterfall.

"There's no one up here! They never make it up this far!"

"Should we just head back to the bunker?!"

"No! Let's wait out the storm!"

"Got it!"

Lara shoots an arrow into a lantern above the mens' heads, and fire rains down upon them. While they're distracted, I jump to the side of the shack, and I put a bullet into the man's head from the window. After searching him, I collect more bullets and arrows. I rip off a long piece of his shirt, wrapping it around my wooden bow, to make it stronger. I look over to see Lara dodging a man's attack as he swings his blades at her.

I leap back onto higher ground, and I shoot the other men who seem to have come out of nowhere, but the bullets just knock off their armor, and they stumble back.

"Hey! There's two of them!"

"You're done for!" One of them sneers at me as he races toward me, an evil smile on his face. Dodging the swing of the blade, I stumble back, my legs in tangles in a heap of broken pots. Lara kills her last opponent, and she helps me up quickly as my attacker whips out dual pistols.

"There's nowhere to run, Outsiders!" He shouts, and I look at Lara from the corner of my eye. In a flash, the climbing axe is in her hand and swinging; It slices the armor off the man, and he screams as he falls into the river, going under and struggling to breathe. Pretty soon he is washed away.

Standing breathlessly beside Lara, we come across a bridge. However, once we start to run across it, the bridge starts to shake and stir, and it starts to give way.

"Jump!" Lara shouts, and at the last second I launch myself off the bridge and onto the rocky wall before me, the climbing axe digging deep. Looking down, I realize the handmade climbing axe Lara had made earlier was frail; The wooden stick began to shiver, and then it snapped in half. Lara skidded against the mountain in an effort to stay still, so I reached down and snatched her wrist. Together, using all of my strength, we finally collapsed over the other side.

My shoulder throbbed, and I rubbed it absentmindedly as Lara's radio buzzed. It was Reyes' voice.

"Lara...you there?"

"Reyes! Did you find Sam?"

"We're still on her trail. Have you found Claire?"

"Yes, I found her," Lara replied, looking back at me as we climbed the stone steps. "We're going to try and send an SOS from an old radio tower up here. Any tips?"

"Hey Lara! Hi Claire! You're gonna need to find the communication console. It'll look like a bunch of old switchboards." Alex's voice came over the radio, making me smile. It felt good to smile, and I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

"Okay. We'll let you know when we find it." Lara responded, and stuck the radio back onto her belt. We came across a wooden post which had rope tied around it tightly, and then the rest crossed to the other side.

"How convenient," I quipped as I took the climbing axe from my belt. Holding it in my hands, I looked at Lara. "You can't slide down the rope bare handed. You think it could hold us both?" I asked. She pursed her lips, contemplating. I stared at her, noticing how much she looked like me when she did that.

"Let's try each of us holding one side of it. It looks sturdy enough." She said, and we grabbed each end of the axe, turning towards each other. Then we shoved off of higher ground, and we slid down the rope, holding our legs up so they wouldn't crash into each other. However, once we landed on solid ground, men came from around the stone walls and behind columns.

"Hey! Hey! Wake up! Wake up, we got intruders!" They yelled as they ducked for cover underneath stone walls. "C'mon, grab em'!"

"How'd they get up here?!"

"Please!" Lara shouted to them as she held her bow out. "You don't need to do this!" She yelped as she dodged a flaming bottle thrown at us. We quickly scampered over to the other stone wall for cover.

"They're not listening!" I told her as I held my bow out and shot an arrow. It struck one of the men in the chest, and he cried out in pain as he fell back. Lara took out her pistol and began to shoot.

"You're going to pay for that!" The voice startled me, and I dropped my bow as the man appeared behind me, two blades gleaming and dripping with water from the rain. He swung at me, and I ducked, and the blade barely sliced through the skin on my back. He growled at the blade stuck in the stones, and I saw my chance and rolled away, bringing the axe to the side of his head, and he slumped over the side of the wall. I wiped at the drips of blood on the back of my neck.

Looking over, I watched as the man who threw the Molotovs dropped one as Lara fired arrows at him. He screamed as the fire engulfed his clothes, and in a matter of seconds he was down.

Out of breath, we shimmied through a split in the wall, and walked uphill. Broken down trucks and jeeps were scattered everywhere. I ran my hand across the Japanese flag on one of the old trucks. My hand come back filthy. This place was like a war zone.

Lara wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

"I have a bad feeling about this." She murmured as we came across a fire cackling away. Squinting through the rain, I could faintly see the glowing light of the radio tower. Lara sighed as she sat down, and beckoned me closer. Once I was down beside her, she pulled a video camera from behind her, which looked a lot like Sam's. My heart sank a little when I thought of her, lost and scared. I really hoped we found her soon.

Lara pulled the side screen out and pressed play.

_"I'm telling you Reyes, it's mechanical, not an electrical problem." Alex mused as he flipped through a worn out book about ships. _

_"Now, Alex!" Reyes scolded from the top of the ladder, focused on the vent she was working on. Alex ignored her, closing the book and pulling the switch down. It sparked, and Alex coughed, fanning away the smoke that entered his nose._

_"Ugh, looks like it might be an electrical problem."_

_"You think?" Reyes snapped as climbed down from the ladder. Alex sniffed, and noticed a picture stuck in one of the vents. Curious, he pulled it out. He raised his eyebrows and smirked at the beautiful young girl standing beside Reyes._

_"Oh hello. Who's this little fox, huh?" He laughed._

_"Yeah, she's cute, huh?" Reyes said, standing beside him._

_"Very cute."_

_"That's Alisha."_

_"Oh, I like that-"_

_"It's my daughter."_

_"Oh-"_

_"Fourteen years old," She snatched the picture from his hands and tucked it in her back pocket." And smarter than you'll ever be."_

_Alex frowned, realizing how much of a pedophile he sounded. Embarrassed, he stumbled for words._

_"She must...must get that from her father." He stammered, and Reyes snorted._

_"Don't give him the attention...and, yeah." She confirmed._

_"I'll take a look at this. Probably electrical," He muttered as she walked away. He turned back to the switches."From her father...nice one..."_

The screen buzzed, then switched to a new scene.

_"So I was on the loch, right...doin' a spot of midnight fishin'..." Grim said, deep into his story._

_"Hey, Grim. Time to batten down the hatches." Roth interrupted, and Grim nodded as he stood up._

_"Aye, I'll be right with you. So...I was on the loch, right...An' this thing comes looming at me, looming outta water, it was!" he grabbed his jacket from the hook on his locker. "So I give it the old Glasgow kiss. You know..." _

_Grim moved forward, as if he was giving someone a kiss. "Gets you out of trouble nine times out of ten, that does! ...Took me a week to sleep off that night off, and I've not touched a drop since! See you at dinner, Sam!" He walked out of room and down the steps._

_Soft laughter echoes, and the camera pans towards Roth and Reyes, who are laughing as Reyes grabs Roth's hands and tries to coax him into her room. Roth looks over at the camera, and the camera quickly moves away._

The screen buzzed, then switched to a new scene.

_"Alright, can we take B-Roll please? Thank you...Dr. James Whitman, filler 15, take 3. And action!." Sam instructed as Alex held the camera. Jonah and Whitman stood in front of a table, both holding fish and knives._

_"Okay, now take a firm grip, and slice him down the belly like this." Jonah made an incision down the fish, showing Whitman carefully. "Yeah you've got-" _

_Whitman's grip on the fish slipped, and fish squirmed from his grip. Frustrated, his banged his hands on the table. "Good lord, cut! Cut! Cut! Cut." He pulled at his blonde locks and walked away, murmuring to himself._

_"Er...is he coming back?" Jonah asked, and Sam sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples._

_"I am Dr. James Whitman, I'm an archaeologist..." Whitman muttered. Exasperated, Sam walked around the table towards Whitman."...the world-renowned archaeologist! A discoverer!" Whitman continued._

_"I'll get him...the world-renowned archaeologist, Mister, Dr. James Whitman..." She soothed him, and Whitman paced back and forth._

_"A rare breed of fish...I don't cut rare breeds of fish."_

_"It's just a fish, it's fine."_

_"I know it's just a fish!"_

_"The audience demands content, Dr. Whitman. You know that. So until we find the lost kingdom, we need footage like this," Sam explained as they walked back to the table. "Come on, let's just take it from the top, okay? We're going to make you look like Gordon Ramsay in editing. Dr. James Whitman, filler 15, take 4. Action!"_

_"Okay, now take a firm grip and slice him down the belly. Like that." Jonah said as Whitman picked up his fish and scalpel._

The screen buzzed, then switched to a new scene.

_"I've studied them so much, I can see charts on the back of my eyelids. But if we're not right about Yamatai being in the Dragon's Triangle..." Lara said as she walked with Roth out onto the deck, the sun setting beautifully over the waves of the ocean._

_"I remember when you and Claire found that on one of your father's digs. You both ran up and showed it to me dressed in your penguin pajamas, and Claire in her dolphin pajamas."_

_Lara laughed. "We were five years old, it was our first find." She leaned over the side, sighing._

_"You've got great instincts girl. You just have to trust them."_

_"That's why my father used to say."_

_"Now there was a man who ran on instinct. For better or worse. He would have been so proud of you, Lara."_

_"...We're getting closer to the storm," Lara replied, looking at the sky._

_"Well, whatever's coming, we'll get through it, eh?" He assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder._

The video ended, and Lara closed the camera. She put it to the side, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Roth's right, Claire. Whatever happens, we'll get through this."

I nodded, resting my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes.

* * *

**A:N/ Updates may take longer than I thought, but please be patient. I will continue on with this. Thank you.**

**:)**


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